These are all reprints from the original edition published by Shyamlal Goswami in 1896. S.K.De states: “It is said to have been edited from two MSS, one from Dacca and the other from Brindaban. No account of the sources is given… The extremely incorrect form in which the text is printed, even in the third edition, precludes the allegation of fabrication or deliberate tampering with the text.”

The problem with the work is stated succinctly by De: “The concluding verse in the printed text gives Saka 1435 (AD 1513) as the date of composition. ñince Chaitanya became a sannyasi in ñaka 1431 (AD 1510) and returned to Bengal for a short time after a little over three years in Saka 1435, the biography should only have recorded incidents up to that date. In reality, however, the story is carried down to a greater part of his later life at Puri, down even to 1530 AD. It alludes to the Gambhira episode (4.24) and even to the death of Chaitanya (1.2.12-14). The genuiness of the date or of the subsequent account, therefore, is open to serious doubt.” (VFM, 36)

Krsna-caitanya-caritamrita :: Murari Gupta. This is the full text, revised and corrected. Based on Bijan Goswami (ed.) Calcutta: Mahesh Library, 2000. Jagat.

Added by: Jagat
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Text version: 2.01 (legend)
Keywords: Murari, Gupta, Caitanya, Chaitanya, Caritamrita, Charitamrita, Kadaca, Karcha, Karacha, Kadacha

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Additional notes from the editors' research and selected discussion forum contributions.

There are some mysteries about this book, which is dated 1513, but refers to incidents later in Chaitanya's life. By comparing with the other texts that claim to have borrowed from it, it appears to be genuine. The availability of the electronic text will make it easier to examine the text internally to see if it is the work of one author (which I think it is). See B. B. Majumdar's "Caitanya Cariter Upadan" for more details.

The quality of Murari's Sanskrit is uneven and not always of the highest quality. He takes occasional liberties with the grammar that cannot be assigned to scribal error. Metrical rules are not strictly followed, space fillers (like the su- prefix) are used liberally, present participles are compounded with their objects, etc.